Friday, September 30, 2016

Taking Hawijah would deprive ISIS of a place to flee to. That’s why it’ll be next.

Before Iraqi forces launch their highly anticipated offensive to retake the nation’s second-largest city, Mosul, back from the self-proclaimed Islamic State, they have one last battle ahead of them—reclaiming the Iraqi city of Hawijah from ISIS control, two defense officials told The Daily Beast.

Hawijah is one of the last ISIS bastions on the road toward Mosul, and in recent weeks the terror group has been unable to hold such cities under its grip, dedicating most of its resources to keeping Mosul instead, the officials said.

Hawijah, which at its peak had 450,000 residents, is a Sunni-dominated city that sits in the part of the Tigris River valley that Iraqi security forces initially bypassed in the push toward the city of Qayyarah, south of Mosul. In Qayyarah, the Iraqis set up a base where several hundred U.S. forces now are based, providing logistical support.

Earlier this month, news agencies reported that a Russian fighter jet flew within 10 feet of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea.

U.S. officials described the Russian flyby as a “dangerous and unprofessional” maneuver that had “the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions, and could result in a miscalculation or accident.” Russian authorities said that the incident occurred because the U.S. plane had turned off its transponder and that the Russian “pilots acted in strict conformity with air traffic international rules.”

Why the confrontational public rhetoric? After all, both sides could have kept the incident — an example of what we call “invisible crises” — from becoming public and settled the dispute through back channels. Even once the episode was publicized, U.S. and Russian officials could have tried to smooth things over in an effort to keep tensions from escalating.

From Wikipedia: Oba: The Last Samurai (太平洋の奇跡 –フォックスと呼ばれた男 – Taiheiyō no kiseki: Fokkusu to yobareta otoko, i.e. Miracle of the Pacific: The Man Called Fox), also known as Miracle of the Pacific, Battle of the Pacific and Codename: Fox, is a 2011 Japanese World War II Pacific War drama film directed by Hideyuki Hirayama and based on the true story of Captain Sakae Ōba, who together with his survivors held out on the island of Saipan for 512 days.

NEW DELHI — India’s military remained on high alert and villagers fled border areas Friday, a day after a claimed commando-style mission against suspected militants in Pakistan-controlled territory — an operation that could signal a key shift in India’s longtime policy of restraint toward its regional rival.

Details remained scarce about the “surgical strike” that Indian paramilitary forces say they conducted Thursday against militants assembled in six “staging areas” just across the “line of control” dividing Kashmir.

India had said the counterterrorism strike killed militants in the “double digits.” Pakistan, meanwhile, said Indian forces did not cross the line and instead shelled border posts, killing two Pakistani soldiers.

Two senior U.S. officials tell NBC News that thousands of ground troops are massing around Aleppo and they worry that the war-torn city could soon fall.

The officials said they are awaiting a major ground operation as troops representing a mix of Syrian regime, Iranian Quds Force, Hezbollah, paid fighters from Iraq (Badr Brigade) and from Afghanistan gather.

Russian fixed wing and Syrian regime helicopters continue to pound the city from the air and they are still striking Aleppo with artillery batteries outside the city. The officials expect this to continue once the ground forces move in.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter addresses U.S. military personnel during a meeting near an F-16 fighter jet at Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea Thursday, April 9, 2015. Reuters/Lee Jin-man/Pool

HONOLULU — Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the United States-Philippines military relationship is “ironclad,” despite the Philippine president recently stating that U.S. special forces at Filipino bases should leave.

Carter was speaking aboard the USS Carl Vinson at port in San Diego, California, before meeting defense ministers from the Philippines and nine other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hawaii.

Thursday marked the first meeting between Carter and Filipino Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana since President Rodrigo Duterte said his country would pursue an “independent foreign policy,” adding that “as long as we stay with America, we will never have peace.”

Jean-Yves Le Drian's comments come after the French air force conducted airstrikes against the group.

The operation to liberate the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) is set to begin soon, France’s defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian declared on Friday, the same day that the French air force conducted strikes against the group after taking off from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.

“The battle for Mosul has not started yet. (The operations today) are the extension of our support for the coalition,” he told reporters in northwestern France, Reuters reported. “There will soon be the main attack.”

Vladimir Putin appears politically invincible after Russia's ruling party won its biggest ever parliamentary majority this month. But he faces an increasingly pressing dilemma: How best to ensure the survival of a system built around himself.

With a presidential election due in March 2018, Putin, 63, must decide whether or not to run again. He must also decide whether to bring that vote forward to 2017 to reset the system early to hedge against the risk of a flat-lining economy.

Few outside his tiny coterie know what he will do. Most Kremlin-watchers are sure he will run again and win, delaying the successor question until 2024. Others say he may surprise.

WNU Editor: Surprise ... surprise .... this Reuters post is saying something that I have been saying for the past year in this blog .... that Russian President Putin is getting tired of the demands and worries with the job. The key part is the following ....

.... People who know Putin say he is growing weary. In an unguarded moment picked up by microphones last year, he was heard complaining about how little he slept.

One former high-ranking official close to the Kremlin said Putin, in power either as president or prime minister for nearly 16 years, was fatigued.

"Putin is tired, he's getting older," the source, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

This does not necessarily mean that Putin will relinquish power .... but he must be tired from the demands of the job .... and from my point of view he certainly does not have the energy that he once had. The fact that his closest supporters and friends have retired or resigned in the past year .... is another sign to me that change is in the air in the Kremlin. I am still predicting that he will run in the 2018 election .... but after that I will not be surprised if (2 or 3 years later) he will have his successor in place for 2024. If there is no successor .... expect Prime Minister Medvedev to run for the Presidency in 2024.

WASHINGTON — Escalating airstrikes in Syria. Sophisticated cyberattacks, apparently intended to influence the American election. New evidence of complicity in shooting down a civilian airliner.

The behavior of Russia in the last few weeks has echoes of some of the uglier moments of the Cold War, an era of proxy battles that ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. President Obama, fresh from a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin this month, wondered aloud whether the Russian leader was content living with a “constant, low-grade conflict.” His reference was to Ukraine, but he could have been addressing any of the arenas where Mr. Putin has reveled in his new role as the great disrupter of American plans around the globe.

“It seems to me we have Mr. Putin’s answer,” said Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of a coming book, “A World in Disarray.” “He’s answered in the affirmative. Low-grade conflict is his thing. And the question is how directly or indirectly we introduce costs.”Read more ....

WNU Editor: Who is going to draw the line .... President Obama? The U.S. election is only 6 weeks away, and a new President is going to occupy the Oval Office in 2017. I have said more than once in this blog that everything started to unravel with the overthrow of the Ukraine government in 2014, and the following civil war. Solve Ukraine .... all other tensions with Russia will dissipate quickly. Unfortunately .... it appears that drawing "red lines in the sand" is the preferred route ... at least for the New York Times.

Many U.S. presidents, upon leaving office, try to fade from the national spotlight and live the rest of their lives as private citizens.

President Barack Obama implied in a Vanity Fair interview that he might choose to go a different route.

In the interview conducted by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Obama talked about his use of the term “radical Islam,” how he would miss Air Force One and his desire to make the world better.

WNU Editor: Conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh have been predicting for the past year that when he leaves office President Obama will be a very activist ex-President .... hmmmm .... it looks like they are right. What's my take .... I am not surprised, and he will have a supportive press .... but I still do not think it is going to be an easy ride for him if he goes down this road. The Vanity Fair article is here .... President Barack Obama: The Ultimate Exit Interview (September 26, 2016).

KABUL — United Nations officials Thursday condemned an airstrike by an unmanned U.S. military aircraft a day earlier that they said killed 15 civilians and wounded at least 12 in the insurgent-plagued eastern Afghan province of Nangahar. They called for a complete investigation.

The early morning attack targeted a residential compound in the volatile Achin district, near the border of Pakistan, which U.S. military officials said they believed was being used by fighters for the Islamic State militant group, widely known in Afghanistan as Daesh.

However, local leaders and legislators said the victims were all civilians, including children and a teacher, who had gathered at a guesthouse to welcome home a tribal leader who had just returned from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. All were said to have been sleeping when the strike hit.

WNU Editor: Not a good week for U.S. drone operators. A friendly fire incident by a U.S. drone in Somalia that end up killing 22 Somali soldiers. A drone strike in Afghanistan killing 18 civilians. I could be wrong, but it looks like the U.S. rules of engagement using drones has "loosened - up"

More News On reports That A U.S. Drone Strike In Afghanistan Killed 18 Civilians

Russia is sending more warplanes to Syria to further ramp up its campaign of air strikes, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday, as Moscow defied global censure over an escalation that Western countries say has torpedoed diplomacy.

In a statement issued by the White House after the two leaders spoke by telephone, U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Russian and Syrian bombing of Aleppo as "barbarous".

Fighting intensified a week into a new Russian-backed government offensive to capture all of Syria's largest city and crush the last remaining urban stronghold of the rebellion.

Moscow and its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, spurned a ceasefire this month to launch the offensive, potentially the biggest and most decisive battle in the Syrian civil war which is now in its sixth year.

WNU Editor: What's my take .... after one year the momentum of the war has shifted in Syria to favour the regime. Has Russia helped in achieving this .... definitely. But while the regime and its allies are winning the battlefields, winning the war is still a long way off. And even if rebel strongholds in Aleppo and elsewhere fall, this conflict is far from over ... something that Moscow itself has conceded will take time with no guarantee of success. What's my prediction .... Russian media and the Kremlin are boasting of success .... but what I see is a quagmire, and I would not be surprise if Russia slowly starts to disengage from Syria at the beginning of next year.

More News On Russia Passing The One Year Mark of Fighting The War In Syria

Syrian government forces and rebels fought battles in the center of Aleppo and north of the city on Friday, a week into a Russian-backed offensive by the Syrian army to take the entire area, a war monitor and sources on both sides said.

There were conflicting accounts on the outcome of Friday's fighting. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a Syrian military source said government forces had captured territory north of Aleppo and buildings in the city center.

Rebel sources however denied there had been any additional advances north of the city by government forces that seized the Handarat camp area north of Aleppo on Thursday. A rebel official said government forces had advanced in the Suleiman al-Halabi district of central Aleppo, but were then forced to withdraw.

Behind the kingdom’s decision to agree to production cuts was a recognition of the consequences of low oil prices.

Scanning the latest intelligence on oil markets, Saudi Arabian officials came to an upsetting conclusion this month: the kingdom’s oil policy wasn’t working.

Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih’s attention was drawn to an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ prediction that a global glut of oil would persist well into 2017, said people familiar with the matter. The data suggested that economic pain from low oil prices would last longer than the ministry first believed, as the Saudis fought an expensive war in Yemen and middle-class living standards eroded.

“The pressure was mounting,” said a person close to the Saudi oil ministry. “Falih and the government realized they need to show they are not just watching their economy and others suffer.”

WNU Editor: This is why I believe these recent moves by OPEC to limit production and raise the price of oil will fail. No one is interested in cutting production, and what Saudi Arabia is proposing will not make a dent on the current price of oil. In addition .... the technology of fracking is improving, and it will offset any cuts that OPEC member states may agree to. Bottom line .... the days of $100/barrel oil are gone for at least the medium term.

FROM HIGH ABOVE, Agadez almost blends into the cocoa-colored wasteland that surrounds it. Only when you descend farther can you make out a city that curves around an airfield before fading into the desert. Once a nexus for camel caravans hauling tea and salt across the Sahara, Agadez is now a West African paradise for people smugglers and a way station for refugees and migrants intent on reaching Europe’s shores by any means necessary.

Africans fleeing unrest and poverty are not, however, the only foreigners making their way to this town in the center of Niger. U.S. military documents reveal new information about an American drone base under construction on the outskirts of the city. The long-planned project — considered the most important U.S. military construction effort in Africa, according to formerly secret files obtained by The Intercept through the Freedom of Information Act — is slated to cost $100 million, and is just one of a number of recent American military initiatives in the impoverished nation.Read more ....

The United Nations News Centre — the official U.N. news service — tweeted, then quickly pulled, a post that called for "8 million Americans abroad" to "stop Trump."

The tweet, published at 9:14 p.m. ET on Thursday, urged American expats to share a voter registration tool on the website of the activist organization Avaaz that states, "U.S. Citizens abroad could defeat Trump ... if they voted."

The Web page, titled "The October surprise that will end Trump," allows users to sign up for help registering to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election and encourages them enlist their friends as well.

Read more....WNU Editor: So much for being an impartial news service. As for this promised UN investigation .... I have seen how these investigations are conducted when I was working at the UN .... my prediction (and it is an easy one) .... is that this is going to be swept under the rug.

(CNN)The US will "sharpen our military edge" in the face of Chinese territorial expansionism and other regional threats as it embarks on the next phase of its pivot to Asia, the US defense secretary said Thursday.

The "rebalance" to the Asia-Pacific region would ensure that the US "remains the region's strongest military and security partner of choice," Pentagon chief Ash Carter told US Navy sailors in a speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in San Diego.

The declaration comes as China, the region's other superpower, continues to make neighbors nervous by unilaterally developing what most analysts agree are military installations on disputed reefs in the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping channels.

Will the F-35s current and future line up of weapons, coupled with its sensors and ISR technologies enable the aircraft to out-perform the A-10 warthog when it comes to Close Air Support Missions.

Flying close to ground troops in combat in hostile and high-threat conditions requires a host of unique attributes for an aircraft -- such as flying slow and low to the ground, absorbing some degree of small arms fire and having an ability to quickly maneuver in response to fast-changing ground combat conditions.

These, and many more, are among factors now being analyzed as proponents of both the A-10 Warthog and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter assess their respective abilities to perform the crucial and highly valued Close Air Support mission. The Pentagon and the Air Force are now conducting a thorough examination of each plane's capability for this role - including extensive analysis, simulated tests, flights of both aircraft under combat-like conditions and a range of tests, Air Force and Pentagon officials have explained. While many of the details of the ongoing evaluation are not now being discussed publically, the results are expected to bear prominently upon the visible ongoing debate regarding the future mission scope of both the A-10 and the F-35.

Manila: Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has likened himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the latest of a series of rash outbursts that are alarming his country's allies in Asia, including the United States.

In a rambling speech in his hometown of Davao, Mr Duterte told reporters that he had been "portrayed to be some cousin of Hitler" by critics.

Noting that Hitler had murdered millions of Jews, Mr Duterte said: "There are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them."

The 71 year-old firebrand president then said "if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have…" before pausing and pointing to himself.

By many measures, Islamic State is a weakened and demoralized force. After months of U.S.-led bombing and defeats by local troops in Iraq and Syria, the group lost thousands of its fighters, was forced to relinquish significant territory and has been cut off from routes it used to move weapons and reinforcements.

But the group remains a potent threat in other ways, especially in its ability to inspire self-radicalized militants to carry out attacks in the West and elsewhere.

The man accused of carrying out a bombing in New York on Sept. 17 appears to have been inspired – if not directed – by the leaders and ideologues of al Qaeda and Islamic State. The 28-year-old suspect, Ahmad Rahami, wrote admiringly in a journal about al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, American-born radical Islamic preacher Anwar al-Awlaki – who was killed in Yemen by a U.S. drone strike – and leading Islamic State strategist Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

WNU Editor: I disagree with this analysis. If the Islamic State could .... it would unleash all the terror attacks possible against the West. But it cannot, and as it weakens its capabilities of doing so will weaken also.

A Bank Sepah branch in Tehran. The U.S. agreed to lift United Nations sanctions on Bank Sepah and its London affiliate on the same day in January that Iran released four Americans from prison. PHOTO: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Administration backed measures on the same day Tehran released four American citizens from prison.

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration agreed to back the lifting of United Nations sanctions on two Iranian state banks blacklisted for financing Iran’s ballistic-missile program on the same day in January that Tehran released four American citizens from prison, according to U.S. officials and congressional staff briefed on the deliberations.

The U.N. sanctions on the two banks weren’t initially to be lifted until 2023, under a landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers that went into effect on Jan. 16.

The U.N. Security Council’s delisting of the two banks, Bank Sepah and Bank Sepah International, was part of a package of tightly scripted agreements—the others were a controversial prisoner swap and transfer of $1.7 billion in cash to Iran—that were finalized between the U.S. and Iran on Jan. 17, the day the Americans were freed.

The new details of the delisting have emerged after administration officials briefed lawmakers earlier this month on the U.S. decision.

At Monday night's debate, Republican candidate and businessman Donald Trump said "Russia has been expanding their" nuclear weapons, adding that "they have a much newer capability than we do."

But according to Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, the founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk, although Russia may have updated its missiles and warheads more recently, the idea that Moscow has better capabilities is "almost certainly not true."

On paper, newer, more complicated, more fearsome weapons comprise Russia's nuclear arsenal. Russia's RS-24 Yars Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), introduced in the mid 2000s, can strike anywhere in the US with what some report to be ten independently targetable nuclear warheads.

WNU Editor: There is now a race to modernise nuclear weapons .... and any talk about cutting back the number of nuclear weapons is now long gone. And to think that almost 8 years ago President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize on the promise that he would help stop this nuclear proliferation.

Photo taken in May 2012 shows a Chinese aircraft carrier cruising for a test on the sea. China's first aircraft carrier was delivered and commissioned to the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on Sept. 25, 2012. The carrier, with the name "Liaoning" and hull number 16, was officially handed over to the Navy at a ceremony held in a naval base of northeast China's Dalian Port. (Xinhua/Li Tang)

For nearly sixty years, U.S. Navy fighters have launched from aircraft carrier decks with steam-powered catapults. These catapults were created for carriers because they can safely accelerate large aircraft with big payloads. Catapult-Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) operations soon became the norm for the U.S. Navy and a handful of its allies.

Now China is looking to get in on the action. Growing evidence suggests that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is mimicking the U.S. Navy's launch methods, and the change could have big ramifications for the western Pacific.

The Navy is arming aircraft carriers with a prototype high-tech torpedo defense technology able to detect, classify, track and destroy incoming enemy torpedoes, service officials said.

The Anti-Torpedo Defense System, currently installed on five aircraft carriers and deployed on one carrier at the moment, is slated to be fully operational by 2022.

The overall SSTD system, which consists of a sensor, processor and small interceptor missile, is a first-of-its-kind "hard kill" countermeasure for ships and carriers designed to defeat torpedoes, Navy officials said.

The emerging Surface Ship Torpedo Defense technology includes the Anti-Torpedo Defense System, or ATTDS and an SLQ-25 Acoustic Device Countermeasure; the ATTDS consists of a Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo program and Torpedo Warning System.Read more ....

WNU Editor: The US Navy has obviously gone out of its way to keep the details of this technology secret .... but it must be very impressive for them to sound this confident on what these counter-measures are capable of doing.

After more than 200 years, the Navy is making a fundamental change in how it will address its enlisted sailors, according to a notification on the new policy obtained by USNI News.

Starting today, the service will shelve the rating system it adopted from the U.K. Royal Navy, stop referring to sailors by their job titles and adopt a job classification in line with the Army, Marine Corps and the Air Force.

For example, under the new rules The Hunt for Red October character Sonar Technician Second Class Ronald “Jonesy” Jones – ST2 Jones for short – would be Petty Officer Second Class Jones or Petty Officer Jones. Machinist’s Mate First Class Jake Holman – MM1 Holman– from the novel and film The Sand Pebbles would be Petty Officer First Class Holman or Petty Officer Holman.

The Pentagon will start a review next month of the U.S. Navy’s costliest warship after resolving Navy objections to the inquiry aimed at determining why the aircraft carrier has faced years of delay.

Frank Kendall, the under secretary of defense for acquisition, ordered the review of the $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford that’s being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. in part to see what lessons can be learned for production of the two other ships to follow in its class. Kendall agreed to delay the review’s start by a month to defuse a mini-mutiny of sorts by Navy officials who said the timing would be too disruptive.

The carrier’s increasing cost over the years caused Congress to set a $12.9 billion ceiling that might be breached by problems that have surfaced more recently. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s testing chief, warned in June that the Ford may struggle to launch and recover aircraft, mount a defense and move munitions, requiring costly improvements after it’s delivered.

ABU DHABI // Gulf Arab states warned of fallout for American economic interests and counter-terrorism cooperation on Thursday after the US Congress voted to override a presidential veto on a law that will allow families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia.

"Populist legislation in the Jasta case prevailed over rationalism, which is required in all matters of international law and investment risks. The repercussions will be serious and enduring," tweeted Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, referring to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or Jasta.

Speaking at a press conference in New York on September 19, President Obama stood at the dais with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and said that the battle for Mosul was ready “to move forward fairly rapidly” and that “we are prepared to help provide rapid humanitarian assistance.” The President and Prime Minister, I believe, are underestimating the challenges and difficulties that will result from the exodus of hundreds of thousands new refugees once the military operation to clear Mosul begins.Read more ....

An Amnesty International investigation has gathered horrific evidence of the repeated use of what are believed to be chemical weapons against civilians, including very young children, by Sudanese government forces in one of the most remote regions of Darfur over the past eight months.

Using satellite imagery, more than 200 in-depth interviews with survivors and expert analysis of dozens of appalling images showing babies and young children with terrible injuries, the investigation indicates that at least 30 likely chemical attacks have taken place in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur since January 2016. The most recent was on 9 September 2016.

With a storm consisting of big short sellers, nervous hedge funds and U.S. federal prosecutors brewing, Deutsche Bank shares plunged in New York trading again on Thursday and spooked financial markets.

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has been able to pull off a careful dance of imposing enormous multi-billion dollar fines related to the financial crisis on big banks without causing a market-crushing banking disaster. But the demand by federal prosecutors that Deutsche Bank pay $14 billion has caused many market players in September to question the big German bank’s capital cushion.

Read more ....WNU Editor: Deutsche bank is not going to collapse. But the bail-out is going to cost multi-billions if needed.

About Me

I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.